In the time before food was widely available in grocery stores, families grew their own food. The knowledge of how to store food over the long winter period was essential to protect against hunger. In the present time, many people like to successfully store home-produced foods, but starvation is not likely to result if the food spoils during storage. Thus knowledge of how to safely store food is not as essential as it was generations ago.

WSU extension bulletins on food storage include "Storing Foods at Home", "Storing Vegetables and Fruits at Home", "Freezing Prepared Foods", and "Freezing Meat, Fish and Poultry at Home".